


open up my rib cage

by lissaline



Series: Rib cage [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: F/F, Post-Episode: s01e08 The Defenders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-31 01:11:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13964130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lissaline/pseuds/lissaline
Summary: All Jessica wants is to go home, forget about this whole shit show and never see the super friends again. She doesn't think that's too much to ask.





	open up my rib cage

Jessica rounds the corner into the precinct break room, and it’s the easiest thing in the world to find Trish’s eyes with her own and make a beeline into her arms. She buries her face into Trish’s hair and breathes in the smell of the shampoo she’s been using since she was fifteen, some expensive shit she has to order from Thailand. A lump rises up in her throat as she feels Malcolm’s hand, gentle on her shoulder blade. She viciously swallows it back down. She won’t fall apart. Not when she’s so close to being home, in her own bed.

She hears the scrape of chairs beside her and looks up to see Murdock’s people, the lawyer and that blonde chick. They’re staring with such bald-faced hope at the doorway, and Jessica knows that she should say something. She needs to say something.

She opens her mouth, but finds herself unable to make a noise. It doesn’t matter anyways, because a moment later they seem to reach some point of no return and the blonde girl says, _Jesus_ , and she turns into the lawyer’s arms.

All Jessica wants is to look away, to go home and have a drink and forget about this entire shit show, but it isn’t until Trish tugs gently on her arm and murmurs in her ear that she makes any move to leave.

The hot water feels like literal heaven on her skin, and Jessica sits down on the floor of the shower, leaning her face into the spray and resting her palms against the damp wall. She watches the water turn grey and run in grimy rivulets down the drain.

She falls into bed still wrapped in a towel. She can’t remember the last time she felt this bone-deep, goddamn tired, and she thinks for a moment that she won’t even need a drink, that she’ll slip into a dreamless sleep totally unmedicated.

She jolts upright a few minutes later, the sounds of a crumbling building echoing in her ears, and gets up to find a bottle of whiskey.

* * *

“Jess, have you given any thought to –”

“Trish, don’t.”

She always waits until the moments when Jessica feels most normal. When they’re sitting on Trish’s huge couch eating chips and watching the O.C. or some shit.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say!”

“I do.”

“It wouldn’t have to be the same guy you saw before, you know. I bet we could even find someone who works with people with…abilities.”

Jessica scoffs and stuffs another handful of chips into her mouth.

“What? It’s not like there’s not a market for it. People know about you Jess, what you can do. And Luke, and Danny. And let’s be honest, there’s no way that Tony Stark guy isn’t in therapy.”

“Please just drop it, Trish.”

“Won’t you at least tell me why?”

“Because I don’t want to, can’t that be enough of a reason?”

Trish sighs, but she shifts a little closer to Jessica on the couch so their arms brush against each other.

“Of course it is, Jess.”

* * *

Luke seems so different from the last time they knew each other. More whole, somehow. Still a little sad, but less empty. Jessica guesses it has something to do with the way Claire looks at him.

A part of her – an ugly part that she tries not to examine – wishes that he was still as broken as she was, so they could find comfort in each other again.

* * *

Jessica throws herself into her work. She lets Malcolm shove a small desk into the corner of her office and pretend he works there too. It’s annoying but whatever. She listens to an endless stream of people telling her why they need her help. She stares into their eyes and tries to pretend she’s watching them on a TV screen.

She stays out late taking pictures and drinking and falls into bed and has dreams that she tries to forget. She sees Reva’s body flying away from her, and just before she falls to the ground she turns into Murdock, then Trish, then Malcolm, then her little brother. She wakes up and drinks some more.

She tells herself to get over it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thank you so much for reading! I only have a rough idea of where this is going so updates will probably be very slow, I'm really sorry for that. I'm doing that thing where I hope that posting the first part will force me to write more, which is a dangerous game to play but you know. I've only watched the first episode of the new Jessica Jones season as of now, so other than Malcolm working with Jessica I don't think this will be compliant with anything that happens in the season. Jessica and Karen will be getting it on, I know that for sure. 
> 
> Again thank for reading, feel free to leave a comment about what you liked/didn't like, what you would like to see happen, etc. etc.


End file.
